the tenant

Our daddy was born during the years of the Great Depression to a sharecropper and his wife, with three sisters who were constantly bossing his ass around. No wonder he's always had a temper! All four kids grew up well and managed to make good lives for themselves. Daddy got lucky after he married my mama because he became the manager of the farm that we call home. Her daddy PaPa hooked him up. By day, for 30 odd years, he pushed pins into maps and chased Japanese beetles and other critters for the USDA. The rest of his 24 hours were consumed with keeping things going around the farm before the days of air-conditioned cabs and four wheelers. The cattle have always been a challenge....lots of work and not much money. Mama told me that she distinctly remembers one spring when he stood by the window in their log cabin and stared at the rain, knowing that the year's crop would be ruined. Invariably, there was the snowy evening when he would have to go help some cow deliver her calf with a chain gripped in his gloved frozen hand. The Forked Deer river flooded EVERY spring and we would drive through muddy water in our old red Chevy station wagon that had a hole rusted out in the back floor. Pretty cool as a kid to see the road racing under you like that!

I left this farm and lived out of the 'burg for awhile when I was going to college, but I ended up right back here after BG got big enough to appreciate farm life. I think she would tell you she's been blessed too. A high five shoutout to Big Ernie for having it all turn out that way. Like all families, we have had trials and running stafford fits slammed doors and whatnot, but we're still together. And still keeping the faith ^j^